Quote of the Day: " Environmentally responsible design should be like dark chocolate"

Paola Antonelli, curator at Senior Curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, writes in domus magazine about the state of green design. She starts by noting that superficially, it's not all that great. But the entire first paragraph is worth repeating:

Few labels are as frayed and worn out as "green" is. In absence of any organised approach or regulation, manufacturers and users alike have flaunted and overstated ecological virtue to the point of devaluing it, much as has happened to the label "organic" in American food retail. People have been encouraged to trust as "truly green" only products that manifest holier-thanthou austerity, vaguely crude looks and a sprinkling of freckles on the packaging to indicate recycled paper or plastic, all aimed at being a Birkenstock-style atonement for our vanity and sins of indulgence. But is it really true that everything that is tasty and sexy is bad for you? And is it really true that in order to be a better person one needs to flagellate one's natural inclinations towards lightness, humour and pleasure? Environmentally responsible design should be like dark chocolate: delicious and sensual, yet still good for the health of body and soul.

She calls for a real greening of the way designers work,

a holistic approach that starts in the designer's mind and encompasses the whole story of a product, from manufacturing and marketing to purchase, use and disposal, can lead in many different directions. However, common to all of them is the notion that everything, not only people but also products, materials and companies, has a lifecycle, sometimes built into the object .... One of the most straightforward approaches to sustainability is the attempt to prolong that lifecycle by means of a simple attitude from the past: better-quality products last longer and can be repaired. marketing to purchase, use and disposal, can lead in many different directions.

A wonderful article that touches on all of the trends that we love, from reuse to zero waste to 3D printing, all green from the bottom up and not just wrapped in spotty paper. She even mentions TreeHugger. Read every word at Domus.